Normal
by Feathers Fall Like Snow
Summary: Hank's background. All Hank ever wanted to be was normal. He wanted to find a cure so his mother would speak to him, acknowledge him, stand to be in the same room as him.


Well, after describing his background and childhood, it doesn't seem as great as he first thought.

Henry Philip McCoy was born and raised for a good number of years in Dundee, Illinois to Norton and Edna McCoy. His mother was beauty and fashion obsessed and married to a handsome and honest nuclear engineer, who she blamed for Hank's mutation, awkward looks, abnormally long limbs, and then of course, _the feet_. As soon as he was born his mother argued with his father more and more often, they were going to get a divorce and Norton was to have full custody of _their _son; she actually preferred it that way. But then Norton, the _only person _who actually showed any kindness to Hank (he gave him the nickname, in fact) died.

The only person who was nice to him, encouraged his high and growing intellect and above all showed him that there is kindness in the world, people love him and went against his mother's preaching that beauty is number one (if you're not beautiful no one will like you or care about you) was dead. His father was dead and he was _six_, left with only his beauty obsessed mother that could barely tolerate him. She then faked the pity card, gained sympathy points and as soon as the funeral was over and she milked up all attention she could possibly get, she hightailed it out of Illinois and moved to New York with Hank.

Hank was enrolled in a private school, which he didn't enjoy; the learning he liked, because although it was incredibly easy it offered good and different insight, but more so the children there were horrid and mean. They all decided to call him 'Magilla Gorilla'. His mother was ashamed of him but a pair of twins a few grades ahead of him, their father, who was divorced, was attractive in his mother's critical eyes, and agreed with her outlook on beauty and life, saw her as a saint for staying with such 'an ugly and revolting creature for a son' after all these years and especially after her husband's 'tragic' death.

A year later, when he was seven years and three hundred and forty seven days old they got married; they were gone for his birthday. Any other child would be upset but he hadn't had a birthday since his father died and even before then his mother only wished him happy birthday after his father forced her to and after they fought and she yelled about what 'an abomination' he was and how she would soon 'be rid of him' and he wouldn't 'be her problem anymore'. Hank almost began to forget his own birthday.

His new family involved his step-father, Nester Moche (the upside, in Edna's mind, was she still got to use and keep the monogrammed items, so it was a sign) his twin step-siblings, Alice and Eric, who were older than him by five years, but because of Hank's high IQ and their low IQ Hank was at least a grade ahead of them, he should say. Hank was taken out of school, his mother said it wasn't a good environment for him; she was doing what was best for him. He knew the truth was that she was ashamed and embarrassed. He figures he shouldn't complain too much, he was given his own room that was connected to his own grand library, that's what he called it at least. Technically it was the family library, but Hank often thought of it as Gatsby's library, full of great books, all for show- none actually read by the owner. The books at least got read by him and cherished; he was actually the only one to step in it.

He also got his own tutor. They came and went, most not passing the looks qualification but all far passing the intellect qualification, it wasn't that high, but to Hank there were a lot who should have failed it. Finally, there was Miss Emily. She was beautiful, young, petite, and blonde, smart with amazing blue eyes, and most importantly she looked past his mutation. Looking back, Raven really reminded him of her. Miss Emily was fully qualified by his parents standards, didn't freak out at his mutation, and Hank didn't feel the need to outwit her into quitting. He was eight when she started working. She taught him everything he should know in school and in life; she gave him harder assignments and challenged him, but most importantly she accepted him and wasn't ashamed to be around him. That was new to Hank.

She said she loved her job and him. _She loved _him. He became his friend- not just his tutor and her job, his _friend_.

She would tell him stories and she would bring him gifts and sweets. Hank hadn't had a sweet since his father's death when people kept bringing food, and although his mother threw a good amount out, back then Hank had managed to snag something and hide it in his room. His mother also hated his fast metabolism, not that he could help it; his father had it too. Even though Nestor and his mother would host lavish parties _filled_ with sweets, Hank _always _had to stay in his room. After the parties the food was given away and then no sweets were allowed into the house. _Ever_. They were fattening and disgusting and caused beauty problems. Hank had often caught each of his family members with some kind of magical sweet that would seem to come out of nowhere, but Hank never got any, he wasn't even allowed out of the house.

Miss Emily first gave him some extra cookies she had made the night before to reward him for doing a good job. He stared at the new foreign item in his hand for a good five minutes, inspecting it and trying to figure it out like it was the most complex puzzle he had seen. Miss Emily laughed and told him to just eat it. It was the most amazing thing he had ever tasted, even to this day. Miss Emily promised to bring him more sweets and she did. Unfortunately, there were a few times when him family would find the sweets and take them from him, later he would see them eating them. That hurt.

When he thought about Miss Emily, he thought 'this is what a mother is like, isn't it?' because in all the stories he read, she was like the ideal mother.

He had Miss Emily for two amazing years before one night she was invited to one of his family's parties; she snapped.

She had seen what Hank did during those. Camp out in his room, which would be locked from the outside, not even allowed to go into the adjacent library, so his family could show it off. He would stay with his books and studies, no food, and remain silent until his family remembered him and unlocked the door to let him get food and new books. Hank had heard them talking in the library and outside his door a few times, loud drunks, superficial people, his mother proud and bragging about Alice and Eric. She never mentioned Hank. She only had two children, who were the most beautiful kids in the world, and then she would go on to say that Eric could lift a few more weights and Alice could lose a few pounds, but she was proud of them. Hank didn't even have a picture of himself in the entire house (Miss Emily kept one in her purse). Hank had once heard someone ask about his mother's previous marriage.

"Nestor was so sweet, honest, and a very handsome man. He was also smart and worked in a nuclear power plant. They had a son, Henry, who, because of the radioactivity from Nestor, became deformed and ugly, and died at an early age. Nestor later died in an accident at his lab."

Hank was dead to her. Miss Emily was once invited to a party, but when she asked where Hank was and found out the usual reactions she began yelling at his mother until Edna pulled her aside and told Miss Emily to come back tomorrow to discuss this. There was a fight and Hank never saw Miss Emily again.

He lost one more person who actually saw past his mutation.

Alice and Eric sneered at him when he cried after he found out that Miss Emily was gone. Alice and Eric had nothing to worry about in their family. They were perfect, sure they had repeated two or three grades, but his mother _approved _of them. She was proud to be seen with them, proud of them. Why shouldn't she be after all? They were both tall and slender, both with bodies anyone would be jealous of and which looked like they were carved by Odysseus's gods- Alice who looked like Helen of Troy and Aphrodite and Eric who looked like Adonis mixed with Dorian Gray.

Hank could never compare. He couldn't even hope to.

They still called him 'Magilla Gorilla', never anything else; that was his name to them. He tried not to let it upset him because he had his intellect, which they would never compare to. Their looks would fade, his intellect would only grow. He knew he shouldn't be jealous of them. But...they had something he always dreamed of and could ever hope to achieve. The one thing he desired more than anything...his mother's approval.

While his mother couldn't stand the sight of him, she could spend days around them. They represented everything his mother believed and wanted in a child. Every ideal and dream he could ever want to be was being lived out through them, and it was greater than he imagined. He saw the looks of disgust in his mother's eyes when she looked at him, even when he grew into his long limbs and the only noticeable mutation was his abnormal feet, _he was determined to find away to fix that_, he always covered them with shoes no matter how uncomfortable it was. She's said it before and he knows it as well as the inscription his father wrote on the first book about basic engineering his father gave to him on his fourth birthday.

_Hank, I know one day you will be able to read and understand it, probably better than I do. Treasure your intellect and nurture it. I am always proud of you. You are and always will be a great person and son, always. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Love, your father, Norton McCoy_

Hank has it memorized, just like his mother's opinion of him. She hates him. She's said it when she's drunk; she's said it when she's sober. She _hates _him and is disgusted by the _mere sight _of him.

Even if he'll never be beautiful he was closer to normal and he wasn't _supposed_ to be normal because his mother can stand normal people. He wants to look normal. He needs to.

He's hidden his mutation, taken his mother and family's advice; he's tried everything to gain his mother's acknowledgement- not approval, because he'll never get that, but just her acknowledgement. He wants her to be able to _tolerate _being in the same room as him.

That didn't mean he still didn't try to gain her attention with his intellect. He managed to graduate the high school level education at age _twelve_ and was _easily _accepted to Harvard. He had ran to his mother first and showed her the letter of acceptance that was written to him and highlighted his intellect saying that they would be _honored _to have him go to their school. How he was offered a _full scholarship _and they would take care of _everything _if he would just write back saying he wanted to go and they would send him the necessary forms to fill out. He couldn't contain his glee as his handed the letter to his mother for her inspection, for her to notice he still _existed _after twelve years, that he _graduated _in twelve years while his step siblings had dropped out of high school, that Harvard was practically _begging _for him to go to their school. _Harvard!_

She gave the letter a once over, held a blank expression, looked him over twice, and sneered. She told him he would be forgotten, and he would spend all his time inside and because he was revolting, no one would want to even be around him. Then Alice came in saying she needed to go shopping; his mother's face lit up and they ran out of the house, not even remembering to address him.

Hank wrote back saying he would like nothing more than to go to Harvard; he filled out all the forms on his own, just like with the applications to the different colleges, and the surprise he had tried to impress his mother with was burned to the ground. She didn't even show up when he graduated Harvard in only three years, he didn't receive a single letter, visit, or call from his mother. Hank went home to visit over Christmas break and she was hosting another party, the same routine followed.

One night she came into his room drunk after he cleaned up the party and started telling him that he'll never amount to anything in this world. He's too revolting and as long as his feet are still like _that _she will never speak to him. Part of Hank wanted to cry but at the same time it was the most she had ever _spoken _to him of her own will, and she actually _came into his room_. That small interaction, although huge to Hank, only solidified his decision. He decided he would find a cure and his mother would _speak _to him, _acknowledge _him, _stand to be in the same room_ as him.

When he was sixteen and the CIA asked him to come and work for 'Division X' he believed this might help him find a cure, heal his disease, be normal. He accepted the position but wouldn't tell anyone about his mutation, because his mother was right, as long as his feet looked like _that_ no one would want to be anywhere around him.

All he wanted was to be normal.

* * *

**HoKay so...**

**You can thank E for grammar checking**

**This is my first XMFC fic but I will do more**

**I may do a verse of this with different things relating but for the most part this is my headcanon for Hank**

REVIEW FAVORITE ALERTS ARE ALWAYS NICE

**ION (I Own Nothing)**

**I really worked hard on this so please tell me what you think or I'll cry and Hank will too**

**PS thanks for reading**

**feathers!**


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